“You can’t be responsible for what you don’t control.”
Newsflash, no one has full control over themselves and their own actions. People make mistakes. You are held responsible even if you lose control. Losing control is not an excuse for bad behaviour, unless you believe that getting drunk is a pass.
“I strongly disagree with you. Personal autonomy is REQUIRED for truly righteous behavior.”
No, it’s not. See, you cannot have God in your life, if you believe that you rule yourself. Personal autonomy is anathema to any sort of Faith - where you give yourself over to God.
The Founders were religious men. So was America. Your argument would consign religion to a closet, that one could simply pick it up when you leave the temple, and put it away.
It’s also the argument that Kennedy used to explain away his faith - that his faith was not the guiding influence on his life and his actions.
If that’s what you believe that America is about - you are grossly mistaken. Again, America has never espoused that ideology. America has always argued that the individual and the community must be in balance with one another.
Communism, where the individual is expunged is no less wrong than Anarchism, where the community is expunged. Both are wrong.
“God gave us our will. Who is the government, or you, to try to restrain God’s gift?”
And if God gave you your will, then you are not your own, and personal autonomy is a lie. You belong to Him. Not yourself. You do not rule you, God does.
Bullcrap. Look at Franklin, who screwed anything with a heartbeat, or Jefferson, who was a Deist.
I do have control of my actions.
God will decide in the end, but I get to choose. And that, God gave me.
And if 10 basic rules were good enough for Him, they should be good enough for Congress.
100,000 pages+ of laws?
That's true evil, and the confounding influence of Satan.
/johnny